Senate of Venezuela
# Senate of Venezuela

The Senate of Venezuela was the upper house of Venezuela's legislature under its 1961 constitution. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela. However, since 1999 the former chamber of senators has been used by the National Assembly for solemn meetings and other special functions.

In Venezuela, lifetime Senate seats existed from 1961 to 1999. The former Presidents who held this position were: Rómulo Betancourt (1964-1981), Raúl Leoni (1969-1972), Rafael Caldera (1974-1994, 1999), Carlos Andrés Pérez (1979-1989, 1994-1996), Luis Herrera Campins (1984-1999) and Jaime Lusinchi (1989-1999).

At the Senate's last election in 1998, it had 54 elected members (48 elected two per state plus 6 additional to get a more proportional result) and 3 lifetime senators.

## Presidents of the Senate

Primary sources:

| President | Tenure | Party |
| - | - | - |
| Carlos R. Travieso | 1958-1959 | Independent |
| Raúl Leoni | 1959-1962 | Acción Democrática |
| Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa | 1962-1965 | Acción Democrática |
| Luis Augusto Dubuc | 1965-1968 | Acción Democrática |
| Armando Vegas | 1968-1969 | COPEI |
| José Antonio Pérez Díaz | 1969-1974 | COPEI |
| Gonzalo Barrios | 1974-1979 | Acción Democrática |
| Godofredo González | 1979-1984 | COPEI |
| Reinaldo Leandro Mora | 1984-1989 | Acción Democrática |
| Octavio Lepage | 1989-1990 | Acción Democrática |
| David Morales Bello | 1990-1991 | Acción Democrática |
| Pedro París Montesinos | 1991-1993 | Acción Democrática |
| Octavio Lepage | 1993-1994 | Acción Democrática |
| Eduardo Gómez Tamayo | 1994-1996 | Movimiento al Socialismo |
| Cristóbal Fernández Daló | 1996-1998 | Movimiento al Socialismo |
| Pedro Pablo Aguilar | 1998-1999 | COPEI |
| Luis Alfonso Dávila | 1999 | Movimiento V República |
